WASHINGTON — Catholics wonder if
they face the prospect of another pro-abortion Catholic in an important Obama
administration position.

McClatchy Newspapers posted an
article on July 14 titled “Obama’s surgeon general pick: a Catholic who backs
abortion rights.” It quotes an Obama spokesman who said she “supports the
president’s position on reproductive health issues.”

At first glance, President Obama’s
nominee for U.S. surgeon general could not have a more rock-solid pedigree in
the Church: Alabama family physician Regina Benjamin’s family helped to found a
parish for fellow black Americans, the Shrine of the Holy Cross in Daphne,
Ala., rather than suffer segregation in the pews; as a child, she attended Mass
there.

She serves as a lector at the
Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Mobile, Ala.

What’s more, for her work
ministering to the medical needs of the poor through the rural health clinic
she founded and thrice rebuilt after hurricanes and fires, she was honored by
Pope Benedict XVI with the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice Cross only three years
ago.

But while Benjamin’s nomination as
the country’s top public health officer may gladden the hearts of some
Catholics, pro-lifers of all faiths are expressing dismay at remarks reported
by LifeNews that it claims shows she is pro-abortion.

“We are adopting a policy that the
medical school curriculum provide the legal, ethical and psychological
principles associated with abortion so students can learn all the factors
involved,” she told the Associated Press in 1996, in support of an American
Medical Association proposal that medical schools teach more “about abortion.”

Not everyone agrees with LifeNews’
interpretation of the comments, however. Paulette Bullin, a Mobile nurse and
president of that city’s chapter of Alabama Citizens for Life, notes that
Benjamin says doctors should be trained “about” abortions and not “to do” them.

“I can understand her wanting people
to learn about abortion,” she said.

More problematic, Bullin admits, is
Benjamin’s reported membership in Physicians for Human Rights, an organization
that advocates legalizing abortions in countries where its prohibition leads
women to seek dangerous and illegal operations.

While she has never seen Benjamin at
pro-life events, she reports that “her aura and general demeanor suggests she
is a very benevolent kind of person. She’s genuinely concerned for patients. I
wouldn’t take her to be a raving pro-abort like some of them.”

By “some of them,” Bullin indicates
she means other prominent Democratic politicos who are practicing Catholics and
ardently pro-abortion, from Vice President Joe Biden to House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius. “It’s
making a mockery of the faith,” said Bullin.

Retired Mobile Archbishop Oscar
Lipscomb is an ardent supporter of Benjamin. “In the medical profession, she
has been outstanding, particularly for poor people,” he told Catholic News
Service.

Also
supportive is Bill Donohue, head of the Catholic League, who declared that
Obama picked the right person. “Dr. Benjamin is a hero to all those victimized
by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita,” he said.

Donohue also cited Benjamin’s
remarks in an interview with Catholic Digest:
“Church was always a very important part of my life. I believe I am carrying on
the healing ministry of Christ. I feel obligated to help continue his works.”

Msgr. Michael Farmer, vicar general
of the Archdiocese of Mobile, is another fan. “She has a good reputation here
for providing medical care, especially to the most needy.” As for reports about
pro-choice statements, Msgr. Farmer told the Register, “She’s made no
statements about abortion that I know of.”

Nor were either abortion or faith on
the agenda when President Obama introduced
her July 13. The president emphasized her charity in serving indigent patients
pro bono and even footing their pharmacy bills on occasion. “When people
couldn’t pay, she didn’t charge them,” said Obama. “When the clinic wasn’t
making money, she didn’t take a salary for herself.”

Benjamin
herself said she wanted to be “America’s family physician” and to work with the
president to end what she called the country’s “health-care crisis.” Her own
family couldn’t attend the announcement, she said, because of “preventable
illnesses” such as lung cancer, diabetes and AIDS-related illnesses.

Benjamin
is avoiding press comments during the nomination process, and the White House
did not provide a response to the Register by press time.

Political
scientist Michael New, a professor at the University of Alabama, says the Obama
administration has adopted a conscious strategy of “appointing Catholics who
support legal abortion like Dr. Regina Benjamin. This has the political
advantages of showing that 1) there is disagreement among Catholics about
sanctity-of-life issues and that 2) Catholics who support legal abortion can be
successful politically.”

But
Bullin thinks Benjamin may surprise the Obama administration. “I think she’s a
different kind of person,” says Bullin. “I don’t think she’s going to be a
puppet.”